BREAKDOWN IN LIQUIDS

- Liquid dielectrics are mainly used as impregnants in HV cables, capacitors, and for
filling up of transformers, circuit breakers
- In addition to insulation, liquid dielectrics also act as
 heat transfer agents in transformers (10 times more efficient than air or
nitrogen)
 arc-quenching media in circuit breakers.
- Examples of dielectric liquids:
 Petroleum oils / mineral oils / transformer oils (mostly used and have been
used for decades)
 Silicone oils and fluorinated hydrocarbon (for high temperature application)
 Ester oils (biodegradable, green, utilities are towards this type of oil)
- Knowledge on the electrical breakdown in dielectric liquids is less advanced
compared to gases or even solids.
- Results of many works are inconsistent and sometimes contradict.
- Conduction and breakdown in dielectric liquids can be explained based on:
 Pure liquids
 Highly purified liquids / chemically pure
 Practically, still contain impurities at a very small amount
 Examples: Hexane, Benzene, Oxygen, Nitrogen, etc
 Electronic breakdown
 Commercial liquids
 Contain impurities like suspended particles and bubbles / cavity
 Suspended solid particle mechanism, cavity breakdown

Conduction and Breakdown in Pure Liquids

Electronic breakdown
- The processes are based on Townsend mechanism in gases
-
 - Ionic stage
 At low electric fields
 Dissociation of molecules (dielectric liquid molecules and impurities that exist
at a very small amount) – nothing is perfect.
 Current increases linearly with the field strength
- Saturation stage
 At intermediate electric fields
 Current reaches saturation value
- Field aided stage
 At high electric fields
 Conduction increases more rapidly and tends to unstable
 Electron emission at the cathode + Field aided dissociation of molecules in
liquid + electron multiplication through collisions as electrons gain energy and
accelerated.
Maximum breakdown strength of some highly purified liquids
Liquid Breakdown Strength (MV/cm)
Hexane 1.1-1.3
Benzene 1.1
Transformer oil 1.0
Silicone oil 1.0-1.2
Liquid Oxygen 2.4
Nitrogen 1.6-1.9

Conduction and Breakdown in Commercial Liquids

Suspended Solid Particle Mechanism
- In commercial dielectric liquids, solid impurities may be present either as fibres or as
dispersed solid particles
- Permittivity of these particles (εp) will be different from the permittivity of the liquid
(εliq)
- If we consider a spherical particle of radius r to be suspended in dielectric liquid and
the applied field is E.
- Then, the particle will become polarized and it will experience a force given by:
𝜀𝑝 − 𝜀𝑙𝑖𝑞
𝐹 = 𝜀𝑙𝑖𝑞 𝑟 3 𝛻𝐸 2
𝜀𝑝 + 2𝜀𝑙𝑖𝑞

- In the case of εliq < εp, such as mineral oil (εliq = 2.2) and cellulose paper (εp = 4.2), the
force is directed towards a place of maximum stress.
- If the case is εliq > εp, such as mineral oil (εliq = 2.2) and gas bubbles (εp = 1.00059),
the force has an opposite direction
- The force increases as the permittivity of the suspended particle increases.
- For a conducting particle for which εp → ∞, the force becomes:
 𝐹∞ = 𝑟 3 𝛻𝐸 2

- The force will urge the particle to move to the strongest region of the field.
- In a uniform field gap or sphere gap of small spacing the strongest field is in the
uniform region.
- If DC voltage is continuously applied or AC voltage is applied at a very long period
and the number of particles present are large, these particles become aligned due to
these forces.
- Then, they will form a stable chain bridging the electrode gap.
- This may cause breakdown between electrodes.
- Breakdown strength of liquids containing impurities is much less than that of pure
liquids.

Bridging in contaminated transformer oil

Breakdown due to Cavities / Bubbles
- Insulating liquids may contain gaseous inclusions in the form of bubbles.
- The processes that responsible for the formation of bubbles include:
 existence of gas pockets at the surface of the electrodes
 changes in temperature and hydrostatic pressure of the liquid
 gaseous products due to dissociation of liquid molecules by electron collisions
 vaporization of the liquid by corona-type discharges from sharp points and
irregularities on the electrode surface
- If a spherical gas bubble is considered inside a liquid of permittivity εliq, the electric
field in the gas bubble is given by:
3𝐸0
𝐸𝑏 =
𝜀𝑙𝑖𝑞 + 2

- Where E0 is the field in the liquid in the absence of the bubble.

- The bubble will be elongated in the direction of electric field due to electrostatic
forces.
- Discharge and breakdown will occur when the field Eb due to voltage drop Vb along
the length of the bubble is equal to the field to ionize the gas (minimum value on the
Paschen’s curve).
- Expression for the bubble breakdown field strength is given as:
1
2
1 2𝜋𝜎(2𝜀𝑙𝑖𝑞 + 𝜀𝑏𝑢𝑏 ) 𝜋 𝑉𝑏
𝐸0 = [ ( √( ) − 1)]
(𝜀𝑙𝑖𝑞 − 𝜀𝑏𝑢𝑏 ) 𝑟 4 2𝑟𝐸0

- where E0 is the field in the liquid,

σ is the surface tension of the liquid,
εliq is the permittivity values of the liquid,
εbub is the permittivity values of the bubble,
r is the initial radius of spherical bubble
Vb is the voltage drop in the bubble (corresponding to the minimum value
on the Paschen’s curve

- This equation indicates that the critical field strength required for breakdown of liquid
depends upon the initial size of the gas bubble which is affected by hydrostatic
pressure and temperature of the liquid
- However, the theory does not take into account the initial amount of bubble produced.